The Plutonium Core of an Atom Bomb - Periodic Table of Videos

Sdílet
Vložit
  • čas přidán 17. 06. 2020
  • Professor Martyn Poliakoff discusses atom bombs with a Plutonium core - including the crucial role of Gallium.
    Extra footage from this interview at: • The Manhattan Project ...
    More links and info in full description ↓↓↓
    Previous video on Gallium: • Nuclear Landmines and ...
    Plutonium video: • REAL PLUTONIUM
    The Making of the Atomic Bomb is a good read: amzn.to/3hEu7ds
    The Trinity Test and Fat Man bombs were Plutonium-based - the Hiroshima bomb was Uranium.
    Support us on Patreon: / periodicvideos
    Check out these videos too...
    Bomb Stones: • Diamonds, Pearls and A...
    Inside a Nuclear Reactor: • Inside a Nuclear Reactor
    Radioactive Lab: • Nuclear Lab (RADIOACTI...
    Uranium Enrichment: • How to enrich Uranium ...
    X-10 Nuclear Reactor: • The X-10 Nuclear React...
    More chemistry at www.periodicvideos.com/
    Follow us on Facebook at / periodicvideos
    And on Twitter at / periodicvideos
    From the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham: bit.ly/NottChem
    Periodic Videos films are by video journalist Brady Haran: www.bradyharan.com/
    Brady's Blog: www.bradyharanblog.com
    Join Brady's mailing list for updates and extra stuff --- eepurl.com/YdjL9
  • Věda a technologie

Komentáře • 1K

  • @U014B
    @U014B Před 4 lety +1086

    I don't know what's scarier: the Professor's extensive knowledge of nuclear weaponry, or the fact that Brady thinks in Comic Sans.

    • @rodgersericv
      @rodgersericv Před 4 lety +14

      He obviously doesn't have extensive knowledge of nuclear weaponry. He didn't know about gallium in plutonium bombs. I would think most people interested in nuclear weapons would know about it. I do. It's usually about 4%.

    • @roku_nine
      @roku_nine Před 4 lety +14

      If you want to know the real details of nuclear bomb Scott Manley did a mini series explaining them as detailed as possible. Prepare your brain though, its a lot to take in

    • @jwbowen
      @jwbowen Před 4 lety +6

      Definitely the latter.

    • @putci76
      @putci76 Před 4 lety +1

      It is not a threat anymore as there are way more cheaper and economical alternatives which I am sure we are well aware of by now....of mass destruction ! Which is the actual purpose.

    • @haemse
      @haemse Před 4 lety

      Probably the combination :D

  • @mikeoxsbigg1
    @mikeoxsbigg1 Před 4 lety +1681

    He is most certainly on a list.

    • @kilianortmann9979
      @kilianortmann9979 Před 4 lety +170

      Yea, but the other one. Whom to call in case of emergency.

    • @BenFreilich
      @BenFreilich Před 4 lety +100

      Wasn’t he knighted?

    • @ryanjones7681
      @ryanjones7681 Před 4 lety +127

      Yes. My subscription list

    • @sd4dfg2
      @sd4dfg2 Před 4 lety +42

      And now we are too. It's all machine learning algorithms, the only human in the system will be the one pulling you aside "for an enhanced security check" - "sorry you're not allowed to know why you were flagged, just come quietly please".

    • @iowafarmboy
      @iowafarmboy Před 4 lety +22

      Ya, but as soon as any gov agency would look a little into him, they'd no doubt mark him as not a threat.
      It's the backyard chemist and tinkerer with some disposable income that they keep an eye on. Lol

  • @TheChondriac
    @TheChondriac Před 4 lety +504

    "You can get a bit more Plutonium in your bomb and it'll still be safe."
    Me: This guy is too comfortable.

    • @debayanmandal3976
      @debayanmandal3976 Před 4 lety +9

      Should I be worried about this ??😂😂😂😂

    • @erictaylor5462
      @erictaylor5462 Před 4 lety +6

      "Safe" I think, is relitive.

    • @turkosicsaba
      @turkosicsaba Před 4 lety +9

      Whenever specific engineering details are discussed or printed about atom bombs (which are the simplest type of nuclear weapon), some critical (pun intended) information is usually left out or changed to prevent any random Joe or Jane Q. Terrorist from building one.
      This obviously doesn't stop states like North Korea or Iran from buying this knowledge, just nuclear enthusiasts who might buy fissile materials on the black market.

    • @quintrankid8045
      @quintrankid8045 Před 4 lety +8

      @@turkosicsaba The Radioactive Boy Scout would like a word.

    • @sanjchiro
      @sanjchiro Před 4 lety +9

      He has quite a sardonic tone when speaking of 'safety'. He's not all that comfortable really, he refers to the 'tragic' bombing of Nagasaki for example. The Prof. is great humanist

  • @andie_pants
    @andie_pants Před 4 lety +268

    "My dear Marie, every day you look more radiant!"
    -Pierre

  • @gl1500ctv
    @gl1500ctv Před 4 lety +351

    Brady: "Should I be worried about this?"
    Nah, Poliakoff is a good evil-scientist.

  • @marvintpandroid2213
    @marvintpandroid2213 Před 4 lety +200

    The Professor is on my watch list.

  • @bigbadjohn10
    @bigbadjohn10 Před 4 lety +205

    I find alloying, the mixing of a small amount of one metal with another to significantly change its properties intriguing.

    • @CraftyF0X
      @CraftyF0X Před 4 lety +26

      Yep and it is ridiculous sometimes how little makes how big of a difference.

    • @mishag86
      @mishag86 Před 4 lety +53

      Personally I just find it really alloying

    • @drflash36
      @drflash36 Před 4 lety +17

      From what I understand, the field of metallurgy is as much an art as it is a science, in that making a 'logical prediction' of what combinations of elements will give an alloy a certain property is mostly trial & error, with the subsequent properties being understood only once that alloy has been made and tested.

    • @BadGuyDennis
      @BadGuyDennis Před 4 lety +2

      You know what?
      Iron + few %age of carbon = steel
      And this game can go on and go on.
      It's actually very common and casual.

    • @peterzingler6221
      @peterzingler6221 Před 4 lety +2

      It's common. Solder only melts at so low because it's an alloy. Tin and lead have both higher melting points then both of them mixed

  • @KnightsWithoutATable
    @KnightsWithoutATable Před 4 lety +94

    He's a chemist with a PhD, he is already on a list.

    • @NuisanceMan
      @NuisanceMan Před 3 lety +1

      He's on Trump's list for believing in science.

    • @johndododoe1411
      @johndododoe1411 Před 3 lety

      He's near the top of VIP chemist lists.

  • @Dingomush
    @Dingomush Před 4 lety +164

    I’m surprised he didn’t mention “Rufus” or the demon core as it’s sometimes called. It was the third core made and was on standby to be dropped on Japan if they had not surrendered after the second bomb, luckily it was not used. It did end up killing several scientists during later testing earning it the demon core moniker.

    • @telluride3577
      @telluride3577 Před 4 lety +3

      Wonder if they'll do a video on it?

    • @Chironex_Fleckeri
      @Chironex_Fleckeri Před 4 lety +7

      It's so widely known though. Spend a day on reddit. You can't miss the people constantly linking the wikipedia page.

    • @Ixions
      @Ixions Před 4 lety +4

      After the accident they no longer trusted it as a bomb core since it had gone partially critical.

    • @Tuck-Shop
      @Tuck-Shop Před 4 lety +3

      @@Ixions They still detonated it iirc

    • @robjohns5806
      @robjohns5806 Před 4 lety +6

      I believe it was supposed to be "Demo Core" but a rather fitting typo occurred and after what happened the name stuck.
      The core was melted down and used as material for new atomic weapons.

  • @ChillPokePulls
    @ChillPokePulls Před 4 lety +20

    Professor! I havn't seen a recommendation in a while and was getting concerned. I am so glad to see you healthy and bringing us more great content! Keep teaching the world

  • @nicolaskalt4335
    @nicolaskalt4335 Před 4 lety +18

    I really love this man, ive developed an emotional attachment to him. I really appreciate his love and passion for the sciences

  • @zakleclaire1858
    @zakleclaire1858 Před 4 lety +488

    No gona lie, I think all nuclear scientists, students, and really anyone who's really interested in radioactive chemistry is probably on some kind of watchlist somewhere.

    • @bramtahasoni
      @bramtahasoni Před 4 lety +39

      I'll feign interest. It's nice to know I'm on someone's list after all :D

    • @MortRotu
      @MortRotu Před 4 lety +16

      Just radioactive chemists? All chemists are because of our potential to pull a 'breaking bad'...

    • @sagnikbhattacharya1202
      @sagnikbhattacharya1202 Před 4 lety +18

      It is actually considerably harder for undergrads who study nuclear engineering to get US student visas than undergrads who study, say, CS or math. So they are certainly on *some* lists.

    • @caijones156
      @caijones156 Před 4 lety +15

      in the UK Professor isnt a title given to any uni teacher, its a title which is reserved for the best of the field and many unis might have one per department. a professor of chemistry, even of inorganic chemistry as Prof Poliakoff is is going to be on every large nations list of important people.
      His achievements as taken from Nottingham uni's website listed bellow
      Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff CBE FRS FREng studied at King's College, Cambridge, B.A (1969) and Ph.D. (1973) under the supervision of J. J. Turner FRS on the Matrix Isolation of Large Molecules. In 1972, he was appointed Research/Senior Research Officer in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1979, he moved to a Lectureship in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham. Promotion to Reader in Inorganic Chemistry and then to Professor of Chemistry followed in 1985 and 1991 respectively. In addition, he is Honorary Professor of Chemistry at Moscow State University. From 1994-99, he held an EPSRC/Royal Academy of Engineering Clean Technology Fellowship at Nottingham. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (2002), of the RSC (2002) and of the IChemE (2004). He was awarded CBE (2008) for "Services to Sciences", and knighted in 2015 for "Services to the Chemical Sciences". He was made Honorary Member of the Chemical Society of Ethiopia (2008) and Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2011) and Honorary Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society (2015). In 2012, He was elected a Fellow of the Academia Europiaea and, in 2013, Associate Fellow of TWAS, the World Academy of Science and Associate Member of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (2014), Honorary Fellow of the RSC (2015), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2016) and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2017). He was a Council Member of the IChemE (2009-13) and Foreign Secretary and Vice-President of the Royal Society (2011-16) In 2018, he was appointed Honorary Professor at Beijing University of Chemical Technology and was awarded the 2019 James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public by the American Chemical Society.. His research interests are focussed on supercritical fluids, continuous reactions and their applications to Green Chemistry

    • @thetruthexperiment
      @thetruthexperiment Před 4 lety +16

      It’s not a serious list if there is one. Unless you’re attempting to obtain certain things in large amounts there is really no concern at all. Cody got into a little trouble but he’s fine now. Reading about how bombs work isn’t that big of a deal. Every kid I knew growing up owned a copy of The Way Things Work by David Macaulay. If we’re all on a list, the list doesn’t matter.

  • @sudhanshrasam3944
    @sudhanshrasam3944 Před 4 lety +141

    I just wish that professor would be immortal
    Edit:- Thanks for 100 likes

    • @SalvusGratiumFidem
      @SalvusGratiumFidem Před 4 lety +7

      Yes sad to see he's getting so old but he's still smart as can be

    • @m4rkiz
      @m4rkiz Před 4 lety +7

      The secret is to stop aging first. Otherwise being immortal isn't very glamorous.

    • @smallsthetimelord4066
      @smallsthetimelord4066 Před 4 lety +3

      If anyone can find a way to be immortal (other than the Queen) it would be him.

    • @samukis272
      @samukis272 Před 4 lety +6

      @@smallsthetimelord4066 The Queen was born in '26...
      ...BC

    • @frogstereighteeng5499
      @frogstereighteeng5499 Před 4 lety +1

      Mission of our age; make the professor (and us, but mostly the professor) immortal.

  • @metalmilitia1977
    @metalmilitia1977 Před 4 lety +6

    I’ve really enjoyed Periodic Videos for the past 10 years. I hope you keep cranking these out.

  • @InvisibleJiuJitsu
    @InvisibleJiuJitsu Před 4 lety +2

    Had the good fortune of being taught chemistry at nottingham by Prof. Poliakoff. Discovering these videos has brought the feelings of nostalgia back. Thanks to Brady and Prof for making these!

  • @philvogelfilms
    @philvogelfilms Před 4 lety +14

    The story behind that "Atom Bombs" book is truly fascinating. It was compiled by a truck driver from Milwaukee named John Coster-Mullen and is self-published. I corresponded directly with the author to buy my copy. It's incredibly detailed and painstakingly researched.

  • @guest_informant
    @guest_informant Před 4 lety +62

    1:30 Presumably the sound is added on that video as there would be a long delay.

    • @iancanuckistan2244
      @iancanuckistan2244 Před 4 lety +22

      @
      Guest Informant Correct. Most of the films from that time period were silent. If you're interested, both atomcentral and Atomic Tests Channel youtube channels have a lot of archived footage of fission and fusion weapons tests.

    • @s8w5
      @s8w5 Před 4 lety +4

      This is probably filmed from quite some distance, yet we see and hear the explosion at the same time. So either the sound is shifted or completely fake.

    • @oli0808
      @oli0808 Před 4 lety +7

      It's foley. As a side note, nearly all slow motion videos use fake sounds too.

    • @guest_informant
      @guest_informant Před 4 lety

      @@iancanuckistan2244 Yes, I remember now. I think I watched a playlist from there one time. Just test after test after test.

    • @jeffburrell7648
      @jeffburrell7648 Před 4 lety +4

      Also, I have read that the actual sound is a thud from the shock wave passing and not the crackling booming roar that is normally dubbed in.

  • @Christopher-N
    @Christopher-N Před 4 lety +21

    _"Dr. Strangelove, do we have anything like that in the works?"_

  • @matthewfindley5530
    @matthewfindley5530 Před 4 lety +22

    Small point; but WAY more then 1 gram of the plutonium split, most estimates I found put it at about 1 kilogram. The 1 gram is a basically the mass to energy conversion calculation.

    • @gilberthernandez804
      @gilberthernandez804 Před 4 lety

      If you're the one that the bomb is being "dropped on" it really doesn't make much difference does it???? But technically I'd have to do more research.

    • @matthewfindley5530
      @matthewfindley5530 Před 4 lety +10

      @@gilberthernandez804 I mean I guess not. But given this is an educational science channel the difference between 'the amount of material that underwent fission' and 'the amount of mass converted to energy' is pretty important IMO

    • @sbreheny
      @sbreheny Před 4 lety +1

      You beat me to it. I was going to say the same thing.

    • @jeffreysoreff9588
      @jeffreysoreff9588 Před 4 lety +2

      you beat me to it too, for trinity site, it was about 0.9 kilograms fissioned - 18.6 kilotons at Trinity site 8 * 4.184TJ/kiloton / 83.61 TJ/kg 239Pu split,

    • @bjornragnarsson8692
      @bjornragnarsson8692 Před 2 lety +2

      Yeah I was gonna say, the efficiency was just under 20%, so that would definitely be more than 1 gram. Implosion designs are the most efficient fission weapons. Even Little Boy using highly inefficient gun method still burned approx. 0.91 kgs from the 64 kgs of U-235. Another thing is that not all of the fission energy was produced by Pu-239. In fact, close to 20% (I think 17% exact) was fast fissioned U-238 in the tamper. Also approx. 14.3 tons of U-238 released energy as a result of photofission from the gamma radiation emitted by Pu-239 fission according to a published peer reviewed paper.
      Now if only they had thought of making the core hollow first instead of solid and replaced the initiator with a 50/50 D-T gas mixture in the pit, they would have had a much bigger blast with the same mass of Pu-239. Even if they kept the solid core arrangement, but just spaced out the tamper a couple inches outside the core then they would have had a greater yield due to the longer confinement time before becoming subcritical. Maybe they never would have used the bomb in war after seeing a 50+ kt explosion. I'd doubt it though.

  • @arigold844
    @arigold844 Před 4 lety +38

    I never knew i liked chemistry until i found this channel. 😁

  • @KimbaNessie
    @KimbaNessie Před 4 lety +11

    Glad to see the professor is doing ok! He’s the best!

  • @rogerkearns8094
    @rogerkearns8094 Před 4 lety +22

    00:30 I strongly recommend Richard Rhodes's _The Making of the Atomic Bomb_ (which, for some reason, I cannot identify on your shelf, here).

    • @cdl0
      @cdl0 Před 4 lety +3

      Agreed, it is an excellent book.

    • @railgap
      @railgap Před 4 lety +2

      I'm kind of a nuclear weapons nut, and I think that's a really excellent book. Very accessible to the non-scientist reader, however - not technical at all. Full of colorful personalities and anecdotes, it's actually an entertaining read.

    • @vibrolax
      @vibrolax Před 4 lety +2

      To be followed by "Dark Sun", Richard Rhodes' history of the making of thermonuclear weapons.

    • @svenmorgenstern9506
      @svenmorgenstern9506 Před 4 lety +1

      Pretty sure I saw it on his bookshelf (because I was looking for it) but the cover art is different than the US version. Agreed, Rhodes did a nice piece of work on both books. It's not perfect (given the secrecy surrounding the topic, it's completely understandable) but it does a really nice job of explaining the history of the subject and the technical details without being patronizing.

  • @georgegarcia566
    @georgegarcia566 Před 4 lety +1

    Dr. Poliakoff! You’re being watched! Brady, I really like your clever edits. I can’t get enough of these videos!

  • @brokenwindowsill4689
    @brokenwindowsill4689 Před 4 lety +60

    Oh boy, ionising radiation time

  • @smruthipradeep1941
    @smruthipradeep1941 Před 4 lety +106

    "Should I be worried about this?"😂😂😂

    • @IntegerUnderflow
      @IntegerUnderflow Před 4 lety +1

      NiCe LiKe cOuNt.
      (69)

    • @numbr6
      @numbr6 Před 4 lety +2

      No. Constructing implosive lenses is very hard, but refining weapon-grade Plutonium is even harder. If it wasn't really hard, everyone would have one.

    • @NathansHVAC
      @NathansHVAC Před 4 lety

      @DIV1NITAL doesn't anyone get that trump is anti war. War is for swamp creatures.

    • @jaynicew
      @jaynicew Před 3 lety

      @DIV1NITAL This aged well😅

  • @electronicsNmore
    @electronicsNmore Před 4 lety +7

    Great video! Thanks

  • @moyousif2009
    @moyousif2009 Před 4 lety

    Thanks for making these videos Professor, Keeping doing what you do!

  • @PopeLando
    @PopeLando Před 4 lety +21

    I'm so used to modern element synthesis being in the realm of creating maybe half a dozen atoms of a new element, I still find it mind boggling that during the war they were able to create kilogrammes of plutonium, an element which simply does not exist in nature.

    • @BlackEpyon
      @BlackEpyon Před 4 lety +13

      They were well motivated.

    • @vrenshrrg
      @vrenshrrg Před 4 lety +10

      Of course there are a few details that help in the case of Plutonium. For one, it's fairly stable, so you can make some and set it aside while making more. Then of course it can be bred directly with Uranium, which occurs naturally. The extraction of both Uranium 235 and Plutonium from the dangerous environments they each come from is the really hard part.

    • @volka2199
      @volka2199 Před 4 lety +10

      Plutonium can be made at a larger scale than most other synthetic elements since it is a byproduct of neutron capture and not a particle accelerator like most heavier elements and like someone else said it is fairly stable so it doesnt decay faster than it can be produced. It likely once existed naturally as a primordial element but with a half life of a maximum of several million years it likely has all decayed into insignificant quantities in our solar system since most matter here is several billion years old. Plutonium when present in significant quantities can be chemically extracted from spent nuclear material since it is a seperate element with its own chemical properties.

    • @gb5uq
      @gb5uq Před 4 lety +7

      Plutonium 244 does actually exist in nature. Mass spectroscpy of pre-cambrian Bastnasite has shown it to be present. Plutonium 239 and it's daughters are also present in the Oklo Gabon natural fission reactor.

    • @thecloneguyz
      @thecloneguyz Před 4 lety +1

      What about our depreciating helium Supply?

  • @mammadyousefi8627
    @mammadyousefi8627 Před 4 lety +13

    Next video:
    "That part of the shelf is about how to hijack a plane, but mostly history part"

  • @marc-andrebrunet5386
    @marc-andrebrunet5386 Před 4 lety +5

    🎯I love the chronology and the complexity of short time chemical reactions ! Very interesting Thanks a lot 🤘👨‍🏫🎸🎸🎸

  • @josephdillard9907
    @josephdillard9907 Před 4 lety +1

    I've spent years studying the physical sciences (though only hobby level, not university) and i have also studied nuclear physics and atomic weapons quite a bit, really thought i knew my stuff, but I've never heard about Gallium being used in the plutonium. Fascinating video, thanks guys.
    Its not often i get to learn something new about science from CZcams videos anymore.

    • @411Adidas
      @411Adidas Před 4 lety

      Years studying and didnt know this?? Did you read one line of the book a day?

  • @iamdarkyoshi
    @iamdarkyoshi Před 4 lety +2

    The inner workings of these things is absolutely fascinating, but also really terrifying. Thanks for the video, was very neat!

  • @doougle
    @doougle Před 4 lety +10

    No gallium is needed for the professor to blow my mind

  • @bizkac
    @bizkac Před 4 lety +38

    I would put Gallium in the title

  • @robinbrowne5419
    @robinbrowne5419 Před 2 měsíci

    What the professor doesn't know about this is approximately equal to what most people do know about it. It's mind boggling and amazing that it works at all.

  • @charleshettrick2408
    @charleshettrick2408 Před 2 lety +1

    Thank you! 50 years ago in 7th grade science class I pestered the instructor about beryillum and pollonium at the core. He said you will die early from a heart attack. I spent weeks in libraries trying to find the answer. Great thanks for this explanation

    • @channelview8854
      @channelview8854 Před 9 měsíci

      Polonium is an exceptionally prolific emitter of alpha particles. Alpha particles have nearly zero ability to penetrate other materials, yet are capable of knocking neutrons from beryllium. In the initiator of the bomb, these two materials are separated by a thin foil. The outer surface is believed to be dimpled to promote turbulence, and therefore mixing at the moment of implosion. Implosion mixes the metals and releases a shower of neutrons. The number of neutrons cascades in the chain reaction splitting atoms until heat and pressure become great enough to overcome the inertia of the tamper and resulting disassembly.

  • @raymondwarth2359
    @raymondwarth2359 Před 4 lety +4

    Thank you Professor my 13 year old Grandson loves your videos. I have been teaching him at home and he always says lets watch a Periodic Video. You are making a difficult time much more enjoyable. May you live long and keep us informed.

  • @sarahardman5505
    @sarahardman5505 Před 4 lety +16

    I think you should do a video on the "Demon core".

    • @garylee8132
      @garylee8132 Před 4 lety

      I believe Dark Docs done one on the demon core.

  • @gmc9753
    @gmc9753 Před 4 lety +2

    It's amazing that they could actually figure out how to put all these pieces together in the right way and in the right proportions to create a bomb.

    • @brianburke7440
      @brianburke7440 Před 4 lety

      Not only amazing, but very scary. If a device works first time, second time, third time....
      Maybe it's not too hard to make, that's the scary part to me.

  • @c1osmo
    @c1osmo Před 4 lety

    Great video. Thank you for least pondering the big questions.
    Ciao

  • @matthewjozwik6831
    @matthewjozwik6831 Před 4 lety +8

    The countdown sequence is magical. I love it.

    • @Spoco
      @Spoco Před 4 lety +1

      Too long and loud and no volume controls work outside of muting the entire site temporarily from the browser. I hate it.

  • @EricDalgetty
    @EricDalgetty Před 4 lety +3

    I would imagine the issue with aluminum over gallium is not the neutron production, but rather that Aluminum 27 (which is what happens when aluminum captures a neutron) is a very powerful gamma emitter and could damage the electronics and make it difficult for people to work around

  • @Duane_Day
    @Duane_Day Před 4 měsíci

    So glad I found this channel and Professor Poliakoff. I’ve been going through the archives. I suspect the University students adore him. His knowledge and love of chemistry and physics and all manner of subjects is infectious.

  • @marcspector6765
    @marcspector6765 Před 4 lety +2

    Love this channel !

  • @alexander1989x
    @alexander1989x Před 4 lety +24

    Droping this video in 2020 seems so fitting.

    • @Lozzie74
      @Lozzie74 Před 4 lety +1

      Alex I’m glad you’re having fun “droping”

  • @Walter-wo5sz
    @Walter-wo5sz Před 4 lety +15

    Is this where we sign up for the do not fly list?

    • @StephenGillie
      @StephenGillie Před 4 lety

      I dislike the idea of being stuck in an airborne tube for several hours, and hope never to have to experience it.

  • @Callankid124
    @Callankid124 Před 4 lety +2

    I love the professor! Keep up the great stuff!

  • @aperturecontrols7463
    @aperturecontrols7463 Před 4 lety +1

    I have a signed copy of the Atom Bombs book, it's a fascinating collection of declassified letters/drawings/etc from the nuclear weapon program. Another book I'd recommend is "How to Photograph and Atomic Bomb" by Peter Kuran. The technical hurdles of filming and photographing the tests were amazing.

    • @baijhmael
      @baijhmael Před 3 lety

      Who wrote the Atom Bombs book? Tried to find the book in the video, comments and online but no luck.

  • @urdnal
    @urdnal Před 4 lety +4

    Do something about the theorize "continent of stability" and its ud-matter.

  • @Mike518Mike
    @Mike518Mike Před 4 lety +12

    One book abaout the topic I found really interessting is "Comand and Controll". It is a really gripping book detailing the whole history of nuclear bombs as well as all the exidents that happend (on the American side, not enough data for the UdSSR).

    • @swatboy763
      @swatboy763 Před 4 lety

      Mike518Mike you have a typo

    • @BothHands1
      @BothHands1 Před 4 lety +1

      i lived in Nagasaki for 3 years, and there are still stone temples and statues charred black on one side from the explosion all those years ago, as well as trees at those temples that still remain mangled but alive.
      at the actual epicenter, there's a museum with a glass floor, showing you the damage done underneath, and photos of hundreds of civilian people, children pregnant women, etc, with their skin peeling off their bodies, and limbs falling off. it's an absolutely horrific weapon, and i pray that no nuclear weapons will ever be used again.

    • @jaeweld19
      @jaeweld19 Před 4 lety

      I read that about a month ago. Great book. If you're interested in nuclear history you should check out James mahaffey and his atomic series.

  • @richross4781
    @richross4781 Před 4 lety +1

    Love it. Always interesting.

  • @user-wq2cw7pc4d
    @user-wq2cw7pc4d Před 9 měsíci +1

    All we need is a little plutonium Doc!

  • @apburner1
    @apburner1 Před 4 lety +13

    Small correction:
    The result was the fission of about 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of the 6.19 kilograms (13.6 lb) of plutonium in the pit, i.e. of about 16% of the fissile material present. 1 gram (0.035 oz) of matter in the bomb is converted into the active energy of heat and radiation, releasing the energy equivalent to the detonation of 21 kilotons of TNT or 88 terajoules.

    • @thomasg5554
      @thomasg5554 Před 4 lety +3

      Yup, that's the actual numbers.

    • @fpm1979
      @fpm1979 Před 4 lety

      I believe only one gramme of the 60kg of Uranium was split in the gun-type weapon Little Boy. A very wasteful but simple and reliable design.

    • @Naturrien
      @Naturrien Před 4 lety +2

      @@fpm1979 Actually it's still about 1 kg of U-235 that fissioned in Little Boy (actually more like 0.75 kg). It's inefficient because the gun-type configuration wastes the rest of the 64 kg, as you point out.

    • @rlewis1946
      @rlewis1946 Před 4 lety

      Naturrien What is the efficiency of today’s nuclear weapons?

    • @Naturrien
      @Naturrien Před 4 lety

      @@rlewis1946 I believe the max efficiency we've achieved is around 50%. Of course modern weapons use thermonuclear fusion to achieve most of their yield so it's not as cut-and-dry.

  • @jakephillips2872
    @jakephillips2872 Před 4 lety +27

    great to see the prof is holding up well. Stay safe!

    • @58209
      @58209 Před 4 lety +1

      @White Tower Woodworking because people care about their particular favorite old person enough to performatively worry about them during a pandemic, but not enough to actually wear a face mask and practice social distancing during that same pandemic

  • @n1k0n_
    @n1k0n_ Před 4 lety

    Periodic videos and bombs...my day has been made.

  • @boredgrass
    @boredgrass Před 4 lety

    Knowledge shared with so much loveliness, kindness and decency. An example to aspire to.

  • @golf-n-guns
    @golf-n-guns Před 4 lety +73

    _Kim Jong-Un has entered the chat_

    • @andricode
      @andricode Před 4 lety

      North Korea doesnt have bombs anymore, South Korea is the one

    • @NotThatUser
      @NotThatUser Před 4 lety +1

      gabsr
      Ha! You honestly believe North Korea would actually disarm or remove their nuclear arms entirely?

    • @zippymax1
      @zippymax1 Před 4 lety

      @DIV1NITAL Possibe. I think India and the CCP will nuke each other first, and we might have to step in. Day by day the CCP is menacing every other country in their region more and more openly. I think the Wuhan virus was purposefully vectored to the west to catalyze the expansion of the CCP collective--not that they necessarily engineered the virus. It may have just been a naturally emerging weapon of convenience.

    • @AlexGNR
      @AlexGNR Před 3 lety

      @Lotad-Is-Hungry ! its october..
      Sht

  • @TadyZaZ
    @TadyZaZ Před 4 lety +5

    Just by looking at the waveform of Bradys t-shirt i can tell it has the most exceedingly awesome guitar solo.

  • @stewiegriffin2143
    @stewiegriffin2143 Před 4 lety +1

    Doc..its Marty you gotta get me back to the future !!
    Love the videos your awesome

  • @marcoatzori92
    @marcoatzori92 Před 4 lety +2

    Very interesting stuff!

  • @mikeunleashed1
    @mikeunleashed1 Před 4 lety +6

    That ending hahahaha

  • @benjaminnelson5455
    @benjaminnelson5455 Před 4 lety +6

    Well, we're all on a watch list now, possibly Eric Swalwell's.

  • @djbotti
    @djbotti Před 2 měsíci +1

    In the Fat Man bomb, when the bomb exploded, approximately 2.2 pounds of that plutonium underwent fission, but only about 1 gram of mass was turned to an immense amount of energy (E=mc^2). In fission, only a small fraction of the plutonium atom's mass is actually becomes energy.

  • @michaelglynn2638
    @michaelglynn2638 Před 4 lety

    Thanks prof, interesting, and nicely presented👍

  • @TheZombieOfDrake
    @TheZombieOfDrake Před 4 lety +31

    To answer the question "Would I have worked on nuclear weapons?", the answer is almost certainly yes. Not because of any moral failure on the professor's part, but because *very* few people knew what they were working on. My grandfather was horrified to find out that the reactor buildings he had built in his role as a civil engineer were not for providing clean energy to people, but instead for enriching the fissile material for bombs.

    • @gilberthernandez804
      @gilberthernandez804 Před 4 lety +1

      I worked on them and it was really interesting and fun....but extremely dangerous!!!!

    • @thejeeronian7220
      @thejeeronian7220 Před 4 lety +5

      Dark Dragon Dragoon The nuclear physics that you and I know today were not known by your average civil engineer in the 1940's and 50's

    • @gilberthernandez804
      @gilberthernandez804 Před 4 lety

      @@StonedDragons What you stated is true but............Jesse drake did say that the buildings were actually for "enriching fissile material for bombs". That's pretty specific.

    • @TheZombieOfDrake
      @TheZombieOfDrake Před 4 lety +2

      @@gilberthernandez804 To be clear, my grandfather wasn't involved in the actual reactor design, just the buildings the reactors were housed in.

    • @Evan_Bell
      @Evan_Bell Před 4 lety

      Reactors don't enrich

  • @AstroTibs
    @AstroTibs Před 4 lety +15

    "Mostly on the history" of atom bombs...
    What eh... are the other atom bomb books about?

    • @JohnBoyGamer1
      @JohnBoyGamer1 Před 4 lety +1

      shhhhh lol

    • @RWBHere
      @RWBHere Před 4 lety +1

      They could include thermonuclear bombs, Cobalt bombs, neutron bombs...

  • @dethaddr
    @dethaddr Před 4 lety

    I'll risk being on a list to watch Periodic Videos. Prof Sir Martyn is definitely one of the most interesting teachers known to mankind.

  • @RScesium
    @RScesium Před 4 lety +1

    I have worked with one of the “bomb builders” - Dr. Henry Linschitz- who worked on the chemistry of implosion and who helped assemble the Pu bombs. He did address the moral implications of the bombs extensively.

  • @embracethesuck1041
    @embracethesuck1041 Před 4 lety +40

    I wouldn't trust this guy knew what he was doing if it weren't for the hair.

    • @cryptfire3158
      @cryptfire3158 Před 3 lety +2

      Lol.
      Your right. In fact, it's a well known fact, that hair like this is required to become a lead scientist.

  • @terryrogers6232
    @terryrogers6232 Před 4 lety +9

    "Only about 1 gram disintegrated..." Doing E=mc^2 on one gram, I get 9x10^13 joules. One kiloton TNT is about 4x10^12 joules so the gram weight of mass is about 20kT TNT. So I think rather it is more like 1 gm mass was converted to energy and only about 20% of the Plutonium fissioned which was maybe 1380 grams. Anyway, Gallium helped make an allotrope that blew the town down.

    • @josephdillard9907
      @josephdillard9907 Před 4 lety +2

      You should take into account the fact that uranium and plutonium atoms fissioned in a bomb don't completely break down into energy. They go from one big atom in a very high energy state, to two smaller lower energy atoms, that is the fission products.The two smaller atoms occupy a sum total energy state lower than the original atom, creating a differential and liberating the excess energy. The energy liberated in a nuclear explosion isn't pure E=MC squared. It's basically the same effect as a chemical explosion, only dealing with nuclear physics rather than molecules and chemical processes, instead of breaking down molecules to lower energy states you're breaking down actual atoms. So while it does give access to FAR greater quantities of energy, its not a pure conversion of matter to energy. The atoms themselves aren't evaporated out of existence leaving behind only their energy.

    • @terryrogers6232
      @terryrogers6232 Před 4 lety +1

      Joseph... Correct. I did not want to make the reply excessively long. 1 gm is only the converted mass, a little bit from each fission. Fissioned weight of plutonium would be much more...1800gms about.

  • @ksp6091
    @ksp6091 Před 4 lety +1

    Excellent channel !

  • @luisarturovaldovinosaguila3371

    What an outstanding Professor!

  • @yexela
    @yexela Před 4 lety +3

    How do I get off the watchlist for watching this video?

  • @guest_informant
    @guest_informant Před 4 lety +11

    0:51 is that actual Nagasaki footage

    • @gsmontag
      @gsmontag Před 4 lety +3

      Yes.

    • @gordonrichardson2972
      @gordonrichardson2972 Před 4 lety +3

      Guest Informant Yes. Several aircraft flew over, one carrying the bomb, others taking photos, etc.

    • @elmo2you
      @elmo2you Před 4 lety +17

      Yes, you indeed just watched ~70K men, women and children being instantly killed right there, at that moment. Let that sink in for a while.

    • @eustache_dauger
      @eustache_dauger Před 4 lety +2

      And at the same time, the people of Kokura didn't realise how they had a close shave with death.

    • @lohphat
      @lohphat Před 4 lety +8

      Rad Derry Correct. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were civilian, not military, targets. They were “shock and awe” attacks. This was possible by dehumanizing them during the war via propaganda. Keep in mind that US citizens who happened to be of Japanese descent were imprisoned illegally.

  • @Overlord_Destro
    @Overlord_Destro Před 4 lety

    Thanks, this really helped!

  • @carloscortes2112
    @carloscortes2112 Před 4 lety +1

    Excellent ! Nonetheless, please note that the mass of plutonium that is fissioned in a bomb is around 1000 grams. The 1 (one) gram that is mentioned in the video may come from a related Wikipedia article, where there is a "K" letter missing before the "g". It then reads gram, but should be "Kg"(Kilogram)

  • @andricode
    @andricode Před 4 lety +3

    Dont worry FBI, im watching this for educational purposes

  • @SweGamerTerroriser
    @SweGamerTerroriser Před 4 lety +3

    North Korea: *taking notes*

  • @cspaceinfinity0116
    @cspaceinfinity0116 Před 4 lety

    Thanks for the lesson

  • @FatBat5k
    @FatBat5k Před 4 lety +1

    Prof Poliakoff, I love your video perspective here because it totally makes you look like the Swedish Chef 🤣🤣🤣🤣... Cannot be unseen! Thanks for making my day, love your work!

    • @jorgepeterbarton
      @jorgepeterbarton Před 3 lety

      Heh i see it. The arms!
      Muppets nuclear laboratory.
      Dr bunsen idk. But maybe Neil is Beaker?

  • @lebkha
    @lebkha Před 4 lety +5

    Only 1g of plutonium actually split on the bomb out of 6kg!!! Imagine how big the explosion would be if all the 6kg of plutonium split!

    • @cthulutech4697
      @cthulutech4697 Před 4 lety +1

      big ooof

    • @n1k0n_
      @n1k0n_ Před 4 lety +7

      Efficiency is a B. Modern multistage bombs have much higher conversion rates.

    • @thomasg5554
      @thomasg5554 Před 4 lety +2

      It has been said several times in the comments, this figure is actually inaccurate. 1g was converted into energy by e=mc², so the fission products weight 1g less than the plutonium that reacted, but actually ~20% of the plutonium fissioned so a bit more than 1kg.

  • @lucky43113
    @lucky43113 Před 4 lety +6

    Nothing tragic that bomb saved more lives than it took.

  • @redvine1105
    @redvine1105 Před 3 lety

    Thanks for the info - will come in handy! 👍

  • @TruthIsTheNewHate84
    @TruthIsTheNewHate84 Před 4 lety +1

    I feel like I'm on a list just for clicking this video. He is definitely on a list.

  • @feuer11211211295
    @feuer11211211295 Před 4 lety +4

    Hearing the explosion simultaneously with the flash just sound wrong.

  • @JRGAMESX3D
    @JRGAMESX3D Před 4 lety

    I watch your videos periodically!

  • @36gih
    @36gih Před 4 lety

    I love this channel so much!!

  • @ojaspatil2604
    @ojaspatil2604 Před 4 lety +1

    Thank you professor

  • @jumblestiltskin1365
    @jumblestiltskin1365 Před 4 lety +1

    Noticed Plutopia on the shelf. Well worth a read to anyone interested in this.

  • @ritchieblackmore2711
    @ritchieblackmore2711 Před 2 lety

    These videos are brilliant

  • @kenosisaeternumprj
    @kenosisaeternumprj Před 4 lety

    Thank You for your Knowledge

  • @warrenmusselman9173
    @warrenmusselman9173 Před 9 měsíci

    Gallium stabilization also prevents phase changes that can occur with pure plutonium. Alpha-phase plutonium, aside from the difficulties with its mechanical properties, will shift to a higher density phase quite readily. The use of gallium does greatly improve the handling characteristics in casting and machining and it is also phase stable over a far broader temperature range than alpha phase.

  • @eoinmoran1073
    @eoinmoran1073 Před 4 lety +2

    Love the channel

  • @jimth2009
    @jimth2009 Před 4 lety

    Hi! Iranian scientist here, thanks a lot ! I will try this method next time!

  • @Tapecutter59
    @Tapecutter59 Před 4 lety

    Professor Martyn is on my watch list :)

  • @Garwinium
    @Garwinium Před 4 lety

    thanks for the tutorial

  • @BerlietGBC
    @BerlietGBC Před 4 lety

    Thank you, I knew gallium was used but didn’t know why :)

  • @joacimwennerberg8310
    @joacimwennerberg8310 Před 4 lety

    Thanks, very interesting.

  • @kidheadcase
    @kidheadcase Před 4 lety

    Excellent video

  • @robertwalker6584
    @robertwalker6584 Před 4 lety

    Well the list our Professor, excuse me, Sir Professor is on is far better than the list I have been on for decades. Rhymes with pit